Trained at the Beaux-Arts under the guidance of Charles Despiau, he specialised in the engraving of medals — sculpture to the millimetre, struck in thousands of copies — and designed more than two hundred medals struck by the Monnaie de Paris, the oldest French industrial institution still in operation. His epitaph calls him “sculpteur statuaire”.
The story
Lucien Gibert designed more than two hundred medals struck by the Monnaie de Paris, founded in 864 and the oldest French industrial institution still at work. His stone engraves another trade.
Born on 21 June 1904, Lucien Gibert had entered the Beaux-Arts and worked under the guidance of Charles Despiau, one of the great sculptors of the first half of the century. He then specialised in the engraving of medals: a precision trade in which sculpture is done to the millimetre and issued in thousands of copies.
He also worked stone on a large scale, for the Charléty and La Courneuve stadiums. An officer of the Légion d'honneur and a commandeur of the Ordre national du Mérite, he died in 1988, at eighty-four.
The inscription in Division 61 engraves one trade and two decorations: “LUCIEN GIBERT, sculpteur statuaire.” The word is true and misses the essential — the two hundred medals that made his career are not there.
The grave
An inscription that gives one profession and two honours: “LUCIEN GIBERT, sculpteur statuaire, officier de la légion d'honneur, commandeur de l'ordre national du mérite, 1904-1988.” — sculptor statuary, Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the National Order of Merit. Two absences are worth noting: the Monnaie de Paris, for which he designed more than two hundred medals, and the medal itself, which was his speciality. The word retained — “statuaire” — designates precisely what he did least.
On site, do not miss
The epitaph engraves “sculpteur statuaire” — sculptor statuary — and two decorations, but not the two hundred medals he designed for the Monnaie de Paris, which were his true trade.
Visitors' questions
Where is Lucien Gibert's grave?
In Division 61 of Père-Lachaise. The stone cuts one trade and two decorations: “LUCIEN GIBERT, sculpteur statuaire, officier de la légion d'honneur, commandeur de l'ordre national du mérite, 1904-1988”.
Jan DoornikHow many medals did he design?
More than two hundred, all struck by the Monnaie de Paris — and his stone does not say so. He was a medal engraver: the Monnaie de Paris is the oldest industrial institution in France still at work, founded in 864.
Charles ChristofleWho trained him?
Charles Despiau, one of the great sculptors of the first half of the century, whose advice he followed after the Beaux-Arts. He went on to specialise in medal engraving, work measured in millimetres.
Pierre Jules CavelierWhat is a sculpteur statuaire?
The term his stone chose: the man who makes statues, as against the ornamental carver or the medallist. Oddly enough, it was through the medal that he made his career, all the way to the two hundred medals of the Mint.
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